making a point about patience

“Patience is a virtue; possess it if you can. It’s seldom found in woman, never found in man.”

That quote, of unknown origin, seems rather quaint in today’s world. The truth is, no one is patient these days – not women or men or kids of either gender. We think that’s a pity.

We recently came upon an online discussion about patience and impatience, the bottom line of which was how there is very little of the former in our lives and way too much of the latter. You already know the reasons – technology and other modern advances have given us the gift of being able to get darn near anything we want as soon as we want it. We live in a same-day, on-demand, no-down-time world.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing…well, not all bad. But a life without patience can rob us of important abilities and experiences. The wise folks at Unstuck put it this way:

“Patience is an unsung hero. It enables us to make better decisions. To appreciate the process as well as the result. To tap into empathy, compassion, and understanding. To see things through to the end.”

Without patience, the Unstuck authors continue, “we lack the wherewithal to see things through, to wait for the better outcome, to strive for our heart’s desire when it’s not in front of us at the moment. And that lowers our quality of life in all kinds of ways. Like ulcers and heart issues. Anxiety, anger, and depression. Torn relationships. Compromised quality. Colossal amounts of energy spent on achieving very little.”

In our business, patience is definitely a virtue. Over our 23 years in business, many terrific client relationships have developed because we had the patience to allow them to evolve at their own pace. A lot of creative work resulted for the same reason. Clients have showed patience and trust in our creative talents and great things have happened as a result.

Read the complete Unstuck Blog about patience. The authors include helpful suggestions for when you feel short on patience and advice on how to stay calm. We’re sure you’ll find the whole column interesting, so read it to the end. That is, if you have the patience.